Jon Stewart was on Chris Wallace’s show (watch the full interview here) and went back and forth with Chris for almost 25 minutes. It was sad to see them both essentially arguing against imagined, stereotypical images of one another. Chris couldn’t grasp that Jon’s main job is truly is one of a comedian and not a mastermind behind the liberal intelligentsia. Jon made the claim that Fox News viewers are the least informed of all media outlets. It turns out that Fox News viewers actually are quite informed.

In the end, Chris and Jon’s interview resembled the two interviews Jon had with Bill O’Reilly.

In his 1830 revival campaign in Rochester, Mr. Finney formalized the “anxious bench,” a pew or altar where sinners congregated while members of the crowd prayed for them to repent or become Christians. A whole plotline revolved around the bench, and worshipers eagerly anticipated its ritual. Who would sit there? Would they be saved? “At every point,” Dr. Lofton writes, “the preacher prodded, focused, named and decried.”

Dr. Lofton argues that in an atmosphere suffused with Ms. Winfrey’s beliefs in miracles, angels and pervasive spirituality, audience members got to see guests participate in “the familiar ritual turn of daily confession and rejuvenation.” Whether the day’s show featured the organization expert decluttering somebody’s home or “confessions of a once-upon-a-time Haitian child slave,” the redemptive plot arc, the payoff of deliverance, was the same.

And like the best hellfire preachers, Ms. Winfrey could be merciless in exacting those confessions. “Guests are forced to admit their worst transgressions,” Dr. Lofton writes, “to say precisely how they felt when they pulled the trigger, for example, or, in Governor McGreevey’s case” — that is James E. McGreevey of New Jersey, who resigned after cheating on his wife and coming out as gay — “to describe the sordid locations of his clandestine sexual encounters.”

Oppenheimmer doesn’t like Oprah’s use of “seeing your suffering as a desirable experience” for change. Oprah did rise from being raped at age 8 (or 9) to where she is today. But many know (Oprah included) that you do not have to have such terrible experiences to reach the stars.

Sean Hannity continues to lament. I love how his “American” panel takes Sesame Street, a handful of pocket cases across the country, Nazi tactics, and thus paint a picture to their viewers depicting what a “liberals” is all about. And by all, I mean every one of them. That’s wide brush bigotry.

These two seem more and more awkward around each other. I can almost feel the animosity they have for each other. Segments of their own shows are based on mocking the other, so it can’t be a big surprise.

John Stewart from The Daily Show was on the O’Reilly Factor. In my opinion, John had the upper hand in part one and Bill had the upper in part two. You be the judge on who wins this pointless battle over a poet (who I see as pretty tame compared to other rappers today) coming to the White House.

CPC provides a nice run down on the many sides of Michael Scott as he bows out from his show The Office:

No longer is he a figure of anger and frustration, a target for our workplace cynicism. Instead, his pathetic earnestness has brought out the best in the office. The workers have learned to be forgiving, patient, and thoughtful. They participate in each other’s lives, and help each other grow. They see the good in each other and forgive the bad. And against all odds, they have formed a loving community, one whose benefits far outweigh moments of awkwardness and inappropriate behavior. They have learned to make their lives meaningful through relationships.